Tag: self-publishing

Self-Publishing: A Clarification (for those who don’t know)

Apparently I’ve raised a tiny bit of a stink over self-publishing based on what I said here, particularly with folks who apparently are not familiar with my full position on self-publishing, which had no purpose being reiterated in that post. So, to make things more clear on my position, I give you this list of points: Self-publishing is not the same as traditional publishing. Self-publishing does not deserve unearned respect. Why? Because anybody can self-publish, and for free these days. You wouldn’t give unnecessary respect to someone who ate a carrot, would you? That’s essentially what is being asked of folks like me, that we should respect the process unconditionally, when there is no difficulty in said process. Self-published authors must earn the respect, and that often means through persistence and hard work; even then, there’s no guarantee. Most self-published novels are crap. That’s reality, not just a talking point. You can cite a dozen novels that are exceptions, but that still does not change the fact that the vast majority of self-published novels are not worth the paper they are printed on. When I say that they are crap, I am specifically talking about the quality of the writing: typos, grammar, style, etc. One could argue endlessly about the merits of plot or character, but when it comes to the quality of the writing itself, there are few, if any, arguments. Crappy writing is crappy writing. Self-publishing is not legitimate. If it were, then you would be able to cite authors who have been successful doing it. But there are basically none. No, Paolini, Scalzi, and the handful of others you could cite do not count primarily because they didn’t become successful, bestselling authors due to self-publishing, but due to being picked up by legitimate presses, which put them in bookstores. There are no bestselling self-published authors, only bestselling former self-published authors. If the form were legitimate, said folks would still be doing it, because why would you bother working with a traditional publisher if you could be just as successful by yourself? Self-publishing will not be legitimate until such time as a filtering system can be put in to weed out the overwhelming majority of garbage. To expect the consumer to figure this out on their own is not only rude, but unacceptable. The consumer expects a certain level of quality in a published work and self-publishing, unfortunately, has not met that demand and won’t until someone can figure out how to make it clear which self-published books are worth spending money on. Telling the consumer to read excerpts to figure out if a self-published book is worth buying is essentially asking the consumer to go out of their way for you. The consumer is not your bitch. Their time is equivalent to money, except that they cannot earn it back. This is another reason why self-publishing is not a successful endeavor for the vast majority of would-be authors: because the consumer has no desire to take gambles or waste their time reading excerpts to figure out if a book is worth their hard-earned dollars when they can just hop on over to Borders and find a book printed by a legitimate press that they know will at least be of a certain written quality. The following are the only reasonable demands to make on a consumer: To look at the price. To look at the cover. To read the dust jacket or the back of the book. To glance inside to see if the writing is in a tense that the consumer likes to read. Self-publishing is not an escape from an evil corporate publishing scheme, because traditional publishing is not an evil corporate publishing scheme. These sorts of untruths are the kinds of things spoken by bitter writers who couldn’t hack it, for various reasons. Vanity presses are evil corporate schemes, and any press that asks you, the author, to pay for the honor of being printed is an evil corporate scheme, even if you’re paying for something as simple as distribution or an ISBN. The reality is, if traditional publishing were such an evil thing, some of the most successful authors in history would not be published through them. After all, writers like Stephen King should just as easily be able to make a living publishing their own work rather than dealing with a traditional press, right? The problem is that people who are against traditional publishing are either delusional or sucked into a self-publishing trap and perpetuate the lies shoved onto the traditional platform. These people do a disservice to self-publishing as a whole by misrepresenting what it actually entails and by ignoring and even lying about what traditional publishing offers. There are some excellent self-published novels. But one great self-published novel does not make up for an overwhelming supply of filth and wasted paper. With tens of thousands of self-published books being thrust on the public, most of them horrendous, you cannot possibly expect the consumer or anyone to wade through to find the good stuff. When I say good, I don’t mean excellent or superb, just good, as in entertaining (gets the job done). This is really the only reasonable expectation by the consumer. I do not begrudge anyone who self-publishes. I wish them all the success in the world, but that does not mean that I am not going to point out a harsh reality. You should know what you are getting yourself into when you self-publish. I will begrudge those who lie and are deceptive about self-publishing. In particular I am thinking about people who create “presses” in order to publish their own work. This gives the consumer the impression that a work is legitimate, but what it actually does is confirm everything I’ve said here: that self-publishing is not legitimate, that it has a stigma attached to it that is not unreasonable, and that said author is much more willing to manipulate and deceive the consumer rather than

Reader Question: To Self-publish or Not to Self-publish, That is the Question

Blondishnet recently asked: What are your thoughts on ‘self-publishing?’ Would you recommend it? And if so, for whom? This is a good question, the answer to which will not be remotely surprising. No, I do not recommend self-publishing except in the following instances: You are writing a family memoir that you only intend family to read. You are making a photo book of some sort and have no intention of selling it. Unless you’re creating something that will only be appealing to people close to you, such as friends and family, avoid self-publishing like the plague. The reason? Because it can damage a potential writing career, there are too many companies that intentionally and unintentionally prey on people who don’t know any better, and almost nobody fully understands what they are getting themselves into when they do self-publish. But I will elaborate here just a bit. When you decide to self-publish you need to face the stark reality that you will not only get absolutely zero respect in the publishing community, because you likely don’t deserve it, and that most likely your writing will be atrocious–and people will notice. Most people who self-publish do not pay for editing services, and those that do rarely pay for decent editing service, settling for line-by-line work, rather than having someone actually tear apart the manuscript. If you’ve been rejected by legitimate publishers, you should probably start asking yourself why. Is it possible that you suck? Or maybe your manuscript isn’t good enough or still needs a lot of work? This isn’t like the short story market where there can often be a flood of good stories that get rejected simply because there isn’t space. Legitimate publishers reject novels for very good reasons and very (and I do mean very) rarely do they reject perfectly good manuscripts–yes, it happens, but when that happens you’ll likely know about it, which should be an encouragement. If your novel was rejected, you should ask yourself why rather than throwing up your hands and self-publishing. And here’s the thing: self-published authors feel like they should get respect by default, as if being published by a firm like Lulu or Booksurge or whatever is the same as being picked up by Tor or Randomhouse or some other legitimate press. You are not the same as Stephen King, because you have opted to cheat the system, a system which works and which pays authors for their writing. In cheating, you’ve put out a manuscript that will most likely be seriously flawed, and now you expect folks to take their hard-earned dollars and give them to you because you say your book is good, even though it was not professionally edited, has a crappy cover, and was essentially paid for by you to be put into print by a company that doesn’t give a flying fig whether your novel is any good. And that’s just it: self-publishing firms DO NOT care if your book is good or utter filth. They want to make a quick buck, and I won’t begrudge them that, except where they lie and misrepresent who they are. And consumers generally know this. How they have managed to become smarter than a lot of writers is beyond me, but consumers are not likely to buy your self-published book when they can get one from a professional publisher for the same price, or cheaper, and have some guarantee of quality. And you can damage your career by self-publishing. You might get lucky and still get published by a real press, but the chances of that are slim to none. Most likely you’ll get so entrenched in the self-publishing world, and even bitter about it, that you’ll never leave it. In the process you’ll lose out on any chance to not only improve your craft, but to also develop a career. Self-publishing is also manipulative. Yes, there are decent companies out there that do a fine job of not misrepresenting what they do (such as Lulu), but there are also a lot of companies out there that will do everything they can to snatch up your book and make you pay to have it printed. They prey on the unsuspecting author and are the only ones who profit from it. Be smart about your writing. If you honestly think it is good, don’t give up after a few rejections. Keep trying. Just because you’re having it rough now doesn’t mean you won’t get a break later. You won’t get anywhere by giving up, and there are a lot of benefits to persisting in the writing world. Self-publishing should only be the answer if you have a certain kind of product, but if you do decide to self-publish your fiction, be fully aware of what you’re getting yourself into. Don’t expect respect and come to grips with the reality that you will be looked down upon as an inferior author for legitimate reasons. You’ll have to work even harder to get anywhere as a self-published author, and if you’re willing to put that kind of effort there, why wouldn’t you do it in the more legitimate market? Self-publishing certainly has some benefits (you have greater control of your intellectual property), but again, is it worth it? I say not. ————————— If you have a question you’d like answered, whether silly or serious, feel free to send an email to arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com, send a twitter message to @shaunduke, or leave a comment here or anywhere. If you like this post, please stumble it, leave a comment, or tell your friends! Thanks!

Lit Rant: A Few Thousand People Does Not a Movement Make (Or Why Podcasting Ain’t That Great)

One thing that irks me about all these online movements is the people of these movements–particularly the folks who hold some sort of fame–assume that their “successes” have had a legitimate affect on the publishing industry (or whatever industry they are a part of). This is especially so with the podcasting world. Those of us who pay attention to podfiction (and related podcasts) are constantly told that “publishing has changed, and we did it…and so can you.” This is disingenuous. Publishing hasn’t changed. If that were true we would see mainstream publishing scrambling to pick up the next big podcaster; we would see huge paychecks issued out to existing podcasters and more people than just those who happen to know what a podcast is would be talking about it. But guess what…this isn’t happening. A handful of podcasters have succeeded in getting legitimately published, but they haven’t changed publishing in any way. Most of them are published with particularly small presses, which is fine, except that a small press is unlikely to influence the larger publishing presses who actually have a stake in the persistence of the publishing industry as a whole; small presses are not the ones making bookselling a billion dollar industry, and likewise are almost never involved in the grander elements of publishing (can anyone name a small press book that was only published via a small press and was then turned into a major motion picture?). Even the top voices in podcasting are, at best, midlist authors, and, at worst, obscure names who are part of a very selective niche; they have gained notoriety not necessarily as writers, but more as entertainers who wrote a book. I’m not trying to belittle what these podcasters have done; I only want to put things into the proper perspective, because too many people think podcasting is the answer to all their publishing woes, when in reality it isn’t. I have an enormous problem with podfiction authors and the way they represent themselves, because all I see are people being duped into something based on a lie–almost like vanity presses. Most podfiction authors are entirely willing to peddle fantasy without playing the truth card as well. What is the truth? You are unlikely to get a particular work published. Ever. If you do get published, it’s unlikely that a large press will take notice and it’s equally as unlikely that you will be successful enough to warrant quitting your day job. Most publishers don’t necessarily care about a work that has already been put out there, just as they are not likely to snatch up a book you self-published via Lulu (and exceptions have been made, but your chances are next to nil) You’re not likely to make any money at it. You’re not likely to build a sizable fanbase. Only a few podcasters actually have this, and most of those folks have been at this for years. Almost all podcasters come in, try it, and fade out of existence, just as anyway, only somewhat more brutally since you put significantly more time into a podcast production than you would if you published a book with a traditional publisher (since the publisher would put in most of the work of actually putting your book into stores). It’s a hell of a lot of work. You can’t just read a book and expect people to love it. Quality and content play a big role. Podcasting your fiction is not the answer to not being picked up by a publisher. It’s also not always the best answer for your writing. Sometimes you just suck. Podcasting is self-publishing. There is no difference except that one is print and the other is audio. It’s still self-publishing, no matter what title you put it under. Exception is made to already published books that are podcast for promotional purposes (and there’s almost never and instance of such a thing that isn’t meant for promotion). There are no Stephen Kings or Stephanie Meyers’ in the podcasting world. None. There are some slightly successful authors, but none of them are selling at the level of the big names in traditional publishing (Grisham, King, Meyers, Rowling, Roberts, Brown, and the hundreds of others who have sold at least 100,000 copies of a single book). Again, I don’t want this rant to be misconstrued as a way of belittling podcasting, but I think it is necessary to be harsh on this “industry” because it is so often improperly represented as something that it is not. At best, podfiction has influenced publishing only so much as to make traditional publishers see the value in providing free content to potential readers, but the model of publishing has not changed at all. Major publishers, the real pushers in fiction, are not going to buy a book because they think it might make a good podcast, or because it happened to be a podcast; they are going to buy a book because they think they can sell it and make money on it. That’s the most important reason for purchases by such publishers. It’s a fact of life: publishers are trying to make a profit, and to do that they need to buy books they think readers will like. A few thousand people does not a movement make. No matter how much you might think you’re changing things, you need to face facts. Sometimes you have no influence whatsoever, and sometimes your influence is not what you think it is. We might look at the gay movement as a good analogy here: the movement was not successful when it was small and immobile, but when the gay community got fed up, they rose up in the millions, and got noticed; now we have five states that have legalized gay marriage. Podcasting has yet to have this movement, and maybe it never will. It’s surprising that podcasting took off in the first place considering how easy it is to find video-based programs all over

Sometimes Your Writing Just Sucks

And sometimes there’s nothing you can do to fix it. Mur Lafferty had a post some time ago about tough love and there was one thing she said that I have to disagree with: My point is that if you write a book, and you can’t get it published, it doesn’t mean the dream is over. It doesn’t mean that you as a writer suck. It means that book wasn’t attractive to agents/editors. It means that perhaps you need to improve as a writer, see your first book as an exercise to make yourself a better writer. Or it means that you actually suck. I have no problem with encouraging people to continue, to push on and never give up on their dreams, but sometimes some people really should give up on their dreams. This isn’t just to save all of us out there from having to deal with them; it’s also to save them from the humiliation of constant failure and ridicule. While writing this, I’m thinking about all those examples on American Idol where someone with a vision, with an immense dream comes up against Simon (and sometimes Paula and Randy) and has to face the reality that they are not good enough. Sometimes these failed people throw a fit, proclaiming that they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, and other times they break down entirely, feeling the immense pain of not rejection, but absolute and total internal destruction. And I’m also thinking of those folks in the writing world that you meet from time to time that truly believe their self-published novel is really amazing, when in actuality it’s one of the worst things ever put into print. These are the folks who cannot take constructive advice, who won’t change or get better either because they can’t or because they won’t. These are the folks that don’t need encouraging, because they get enough of it from friends and family that don’t have the heart to tell them that they are horrible. But how do writers know if they really do suck? How do we know when it’s time to throw in the towel and stop, because writing really isn’t our thing? I don’t know. I don’t think anyone can really know, but I still take issue with this idea that one shouldn’t re-evaluate themselves if they meet complete failure at the hands of publishers. I still feel like we should be careful to encourage people to self-publish, because often times the folks who do so don’t realize what they are getting themselves into. Sometimes your novel just isn’t good enough to get published. And that’s okay. Really. It’s okay for your novel to not be good enough. We call those trunk novels (or stories, for that matter). Sometimes your dream project can be let go. I’ve let projects go. I’ve had to. I got to a point where I had moved so far from something that it wasn’t worth keeping it alive just to feed that part of me that wanted it to succeed. I could find new things that could fill that void. Not everything you write will get published. That’s the honest truth. Sometimes your stories or novels can be put in the trunk and left there, maybe forever, or maybe long enough for you to get enough distance to see what was wrong with it in the first place. The reality is that sometimes your writing does suck. Sometimes your novel, story, etc. sucks beyond measure. In fact, this is true almost every time. If you get rejected from every editor and agent in the business, maybe you should really think twice before self-publishing, or podcasting, or whatever. Maybe your novel actually is horrible. It happens. A lot. And it’s okay. Write something else. Try again. When people talk about persistence being the key to success, this is what they mean. Don’t throw up your hands and say, “Well, I couldn’t get X, Y, and Z to take it, so I’ll just have to self-publish!” Write something else, submit, and keep trying if you honestly believe you have the talent. How many writers in history have trunked a novel only to have it published later after selling something else? Quite a few. If you really do have the talent, you can get published. You just have to keep going. This is why I have such a problem with self-publishing (podcasting included). It’s easy. Really easy. All one has to do is waltz on over to Lulu, format a document, and submit. Maybe that ease of access is a bad thing. And it’s not helping self-publishing gain any respect in the world when folks who didn’t give up when they should pay for a publishing package or go through Lulu. Sometimes you just suck. And nothing you do can fix that. Never assume that you will get lucky like the handful of self-pubbed people that have made it “big” (and not even that big, to be honest, since I have yet to hear of any self-pubbed author who has shattered records). There’s no such thing as luck in the writing world. There is only talent and persistence (and a few other things that I can’t remember right now). What does anyone else think about this? P.S.: Yes, I am fully aware that technically I have self-published WISB. The only difference is that I never intended to sell WISB. Not really. It was an experiment that I truly enjoyed and want to keep going not because I want it to make me famous or for it to get into print format, but because it brings me joy. It wasn’t rejected from publishers, nor would I send it to them. I have other work that I submit and I’m not giving up on that stuff so long as there is somewhere to send it!

Self-publishing Sucks and Small Presses Rule

Mulluane recently pointed me in the direction of this interesting discussion of the 21st Century Writer knowing full well that I would take issue with some of the points. I’ve come to learn that the old bat has me pretty much pegged when it comes to talking points. The problem with that post isn’t that it’s necessarily wrong; on most points it is correct and the 21st Century Writers is largely being defined by the more progressive, technologically impacted forms of promotion and distribution. The problems I have with the discussion involve the author’s perspectives of self-publishing and small presses. To start with self-publishing, I’ll point to something the author said that made me curl my brow: I no longer engage in the self-publishing debate since it no longer matters… We no longer have to go through the gatekeepers (agents, editors, and publishers) in order to get what we want out there, to get our voice, saying what we want it to say, heard. While it’s true that writers don’t have to go through traditional channels to become a success, the notion that one can become like, say, Scott Sigler, Tee Morris, J. C. Hutchins, Mur Lafferty, etc. is misleading. These folks got, to put it simply, lucky. Yes, they worked their butts off to get where they are–which is still far from the fame of people like Stephanie Meyers, J. K. Rowling, or Stephen King–but hard work doesn’t always pay off. There are loads of folks who worked hard, who promoted and poured tears and blood into their work, but ended up getting nowhere. Most self-published authors (whether doing traditional paper versions or podiobooks) fail. This is simply the reality. They may sell a handful of copies or a few hundred, but I think it needs to be made quite clear that sales in the thousands of copies are exceedingly unlikely. Self-publishing, however easy and desirable for some, is not a picnic. A lot of people seem to think that one can waltz into the self-publishing scene and find success. Most of those folks fail and either disappear or become bitter writers. Factored into this is quality, obviously, something which self-publishing as a whole is constantly battling. Self-publishing is seen as simple largely because one can do it for practically no cost. But it’s not simple. One has to market to sell books, and most don’t know how. Even those that do know how often learn that marketing is not an exact “science.” Sometimes no matter how hard you work, you will fail. It’s inevitable. Some people aren’t cut out to be writers, no matter how much they or their delusional friends and family think so. Self-publishing is as brutal a business as traditional publishing. What really killed me about the article, however, is this quote regarding small presses: And please don’t say the “Small Press.” I’m sure the small press is the answer somehow, but these days the small press is sort of like the independent movie makers. A lot of them are small and independent because they couldn’t make it in New York or Hollywood. So in the end they’re looking for someone young, pretty, and fast the same as the big boys. They care no more about the content in the books they publish than do the name brand publishers. My immediate reaction was: bullsh*t. Comparing small presses to independent movie makers is a bit of a low blow. First off, most small presses actually do care more about the content of the books they publish than name brand publishers. The reason for this is that small presses tend to be niche markets: some publish short-story collections almost exclusively, while others delve into very specific forms of fiction, whether it be Christian speculative fiction or literary fantasy. Of course small presses want to make money (most of them, anyway), but that doesn’t mean that they are interested in simply publishing stuff that will sell thousands of copies. If they wanted that, most of them would have stuck to publishing mainstream fiction, not niche markets. And small presses aren’t at all like the independent film makers who couldn’t hack it in the land of the big guys. Small presses are small not because they simply couldn’t cut it, but because they serve a very specific and vital purpose in the publishing industry. Major publishers aren’t printing a lot of the works that small presses cover primarily because those works will have, by default, smaller audiences. If you were to try to publish an epic poem in today’s market, you might find it almost impossible, with the exception, perhaps, to Toby Barlow’s Sharp Teeth. Epic poetry is not exactly something that folks look for anymore–and poetry in general, to be honest. Its market is going to be understandably smaller. The small press is able to provide a publishing field for such work. One of the things the article does a great job pointing out, however is how much the publishing industry has already changed and will change as technology progressively becomes more a part of how authors and publishers have to market the works they put out. In a way, successful self-published authors have a talent that many new authors don’t: they’ve been there and have had to learn from start to finish how to make their work successful without the help of another. It’s true that these folks, even if they aren’t self-published, will become more important to the publishing industry as the Internet becomes a greater tool for spreading the word and selling books. I disagree that to be an author one has to be popular. To continue being an author, one definitely has to gain a readership, but there are plenty of authors still being published these days that start largely from nothing. I don’t know yet if this is a good thing. Some part of me yearns for the olden days. But perhaps those days are fast becoming a thing of the past.

Publishing: Your Options and the Pros and Cons

I don’t think I’ve done a post like this before and it occurred to me that many of my readers and folks out in the blogosphere might like a post that looks into the various options for publishing and whether they are worth it. So, for this post I’m going to put together a short list of the various publishing options and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Here goes: Standard Publishing (Big Press) Pros Bigger print runs. More potential exposure (big presses may or may not put money into advertising your work). Editing services provided. Automatic “respect.” Large advance (w/ royalties also earned). Cons Hard to break into this side of the industry. Even good manuscripts get rejected. Run on a profit platform where selling many copies of one book (or many copies of multiple books) is the standard. This means books are bought based on their profitability, with content taking a close second. This doesn’t mean crappy books are picked up, it just means that if a book is too niche, big presses are unlikely to take them. Long wait times for submissions. Long wait times for publication. Sometimes weeks, but most of the time months or even over a year. No simultaneous submissions to most big presses. One place at a time. Niche Publishing/Standard Small Publishing (Small Press) Pros Greater attention paid to individual books. Variety; there are an enormous amount of them. Most pay with royalties. Much more receptive to short story collections than big presses. Cons Fewer titles published each year than big presses. Because they are often niche markets, they are limited in what they take. Low advance or no advance. Smaller print runs. Depending on the publisher, there may be low distribution (Amazon and some bookstores, but not necessarily places like Borders). Rare instances of unprofessional behavior and publishers caving due to economic pressure (and I mean rare). Print-on-Demand (POD) Publishing (Small Press) Pros Your title never goes out of print. Books printed as needed. They pay in royalties. Other pros are roughly the same as for standard small presses. Cons Low distribution. Many chain stores will not take these books. Low advance or no advance. Low print runs if any (print runs are made obsolete by POD technology). Can be difficult to tell the difference between legitimate POD presses and ones simply trying to take advantage of you. Other cons roughly the same as for standard small presses. Print-on Demand (POD) Publishing (Self Publishing; Lulu, etc.) Pros Low cost to the author to get a novel printed (sometimes nothing). Titles are printed a needed. Complete creative control, with some exceptions where ISBN #s come into play. Pays in royalties. Cons You have to market your work on your own. Usually costs extra to distribute via major websites such as Amazon. Books usually cost significantly more than those published by small or big presses. Some free POD methods exist (such as via Lulu), but those tend to be limited. Most companies charge a large fee for printing packages. Selling books is, for most, nearly impossible. You have to really have something worth the money. You are stuck in a sea of other people who think they are great writers when, in reality, they aren’t. This makes getting people to view your novel difficult at best. Sometimes distribution doesn’t work properly. When something goes wrong, you have to take care of it. There is no company to perform those tasks for you. Many POD self-publishing companies intentionally take advantage of writers by promising them things that aren’t actually provided, etc. If you get into POD self-publishing, be aware of what you’re actually getting. Editing services almost always cost extra. Other professional services (formatting, etc.) almost always cost extra as well. Those companies that claim to provide these services for free are usually lying. POD self-publishing companies can be difficult at best, even when they are good companies. Getting your novel in stores is practically limited to what independent bookstores are willing to take the risk. Self-publishing comes with a stigma that is often justified by the overwhelming amount of garbage printed on a regular basis and thrust on the public. Standard Self-publishing (Note: Many self-publishing houses are switching to a POD format these days) Pros Complete creative control, with some exceptions where ISBN #s come into play. Pays in royalties (technically). Cons Basically all the same as POD self-publishing (minus the bits related directly to POD printing). Many of these companies will intentionally misrepresent what they do and con you out of your money. Know what you are getting into before you cough up the big bucks. Almost always costs an exorbitant amount of money for a publishing package. You have to print the quantity you want. No POD. The cost for the books you print comes out of your pocket. Podcast Novels (Podiobooks, Podnovels, Author-distributed Audiobooks) Pros Free (technically). Complete creative control. You can essentially do whatever you want. An enormous community for support. Audio format makes it easier on the listener/reader as they can take the book wherever they go. Cons Can cost a bit of money to get set up (mics, etc.), but generally getting started is low cost. Limited audience (and sometimes a picky audience). It’s hard to break into the field and do well now that podcasting has grown. Has unfortunately been stuck with the stigma surrounding self-publishing, though to a lesser degree. All marketing, etc. is the responsibility of the author. Self-published eBooks (downloadable books in various formats) Pros Basically the same pros as self-published work (creative control, etc.). Can be good marketing tools for blogs, when done properly. Cons Basically the same cons as self-published work. Can be hard to sell since it is an electronic only format; a lot of people still won’t read electronic stuff (this is the same with most electronic formats, though). Fiction is especially hard to sell in this format primarily because eBooks have and continue to be the domain of